


Braids

by owlways_and_forever



Series: The Mischief They Create [28]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Female Bonding, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Hogwarts First Year, Missing Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-13 19:22:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29033862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlways_and_forever/pseuds/owlways_and_forever
Summary: Mary sat up in bed, looking around. She could faintly hear the sound of someone sniffling, crying, although she couldn’t quite tell who it was coming from in the faint dawn light.
Series: The Mischief They Create [28]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1888561
Kudos: 1





	Braids

Mary sat up in bed, looking around. She could faintly hear the sound of someone sniffling, crying, although she couldn’t quite tell who it was coming from in the faint dawn light. Peering at her dormmates carefully, Mary spotted that the red-haired girl’s shoulders appeared to be shaking ever so slightly. Quietly, she slipped out of her bed and padded over to the other girl’s. 

“It’s Lily, right?” Mary asked, reaching out and gently placing her hand on the girl’s arm.

She opened her eyes, revealing puffy pink skin as she nodded.

“Is everything alright? You seem upset,” Mary said kindly.

“I miss my family,” Lily whispered, reaching up and wiping tears from her eyes. “My mum and dad and… and my sister… she hates me now.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” Mary replied, trying her best to soothe the other girl. The rest of the girls in the dorm were starting to wake up, sitting up in their beds and looking over curiously at what was going on. 

“It is! She called me a f-freak,” Lily sobbed. “She used to braid my hair every day before school and now she hates me!”

“She probably didn’t mean it,” Mary said, patting Lily’s back. “I’m sure it’s just hard for her to have you leave as well. She misses you just as much as you miss her.”

Lily looked skeptical, but she didn’t say anything, and her tears seemed to have slowed.

“I don’t know how to braid my hair,” she said at last, in a tiny voice, almost like she was afraid to admit it.

“Well we can fix that!” Mary assured her with a bright smile. “Girls?”

The other girls in the dorm exchanged unsure looks. In their silence, Lily started to tear up again, and Mary sprang into action.

“Okay, I sort of know how to do it, I think,” she said, trying to sound much more confident than she felt.

Lily sat up, and Mary wiggled in behind her with the other girls crowding in on either side of the bed. Mary took a handful of Lily’s beautiful red locks, threading her fingers through it and separating it into three pieces.

“Okay, I think it goes like this…”

“No, you’re supposed to -”

“That piece first!”

“And then over…”

“Yes, just like that.”

It was a group effort, but after a few minutes, they had tied a ribbon at the end and were leaning away to admire Mary’s handiwork. Taking a little hand mirror that one of the girls offered her, Lily looked at her reflection, scrutinizing the braid carefully.

“It’s… nice. Thank you,” she said, still frowning slightly at her reflection.

“It’s a bit… lopsided, isn’t it?” Mary said, looking at Lily’s expression anxiously.

“And lumpy,” Marlene observed.

There was quiet for a moment, and then all of the girls burst out laughing, Lily included. They laughed until their stomachs were cramping and their cheeks hurt, until the sunlight streaming through the windows reminded them that if they didn’t get a move on, there’d be no time for breakfast.

“It’s perfect, thank you,” Lily whispered, hugging Mary tightly.

**Author's Note:**

> Fantastic Beasts | 169. Sidehill Gouger | [dialogue] “It’s a bit… lopsided, isn’t it?”  
> 365 | 266. [restriction] no male characters  
> Scavenger Hunt | 19. Write a fic in the genre Friendship


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